The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 228 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 4.

The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 228 pages of information about The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 4.
And pierced by means of those whetted arrows resembling flames of fire those steeds suddenly reared themselves, and in consequence Kripa reeled off his place.  And seeing Gautama thrown off his place, the slayer of hostile heroes, the descendant of the Kuru race, out of regard for his opponent’s dignity, ceased to discharge his shafts at him.  Then regaining his proper place, Gautama quickly pierced Savyasachin with ten arrows furnished with feathers of the Kanka bird.  Then with a crescent-shaped arrow of keen edge, Partha cut off Kripa’s bow and leathern fences.  And soon Partha cut off Kripa’s coat of mail also by means of arrows capable of penetrating the very vitals, but he did not wound his person.  And divested of his coat of mail, his body resembled that of a serpent which hath in season cast off its slough.  And as soon as his bow had been cut off by Partha, Gautama took up another and stringed it in a trice.  And strange to say, that bow of him was also cut off by Kunti’s son, by means of straight shafts.  And in this way that slayer of hostile heroes, the son of Pandu, cut off other bows as soon as they were taken up, one after another, by Saradwat’s son.  And when all his bows were thus cut off, that mighty hero hurled, from his car, at Pandu’s son, a javelin like unto the blazing thunderbolt.  Thereupon, as the gold-decked javelin came whizzing through the air with the flash of a meteor, Arjuna cut it off by means of ten arrows.  And beholding his dart thus cut off by the intelligent Arjuna, Kripa quickly took up another bow and almost simultaneously shot a number of crescent-shaped arrows.  Partha, however, quickly cut them into fragments by means of ten keen-edged shafts, and endued with great energy, the son of Pritha then, inflamed with wrath on the field of battle, discharged three and ten arrows whetted on stone and resembling flames of fire.  And with one of these he cut off the yoke of his adversary’s car, and with four pierced his four steeds, and with the sixth he severed the head of his antagonist’s car-driver from off his body.  And with three that mighty car-warrior pierced, in that encounter, the triple bamboo-pole of Kripa’s car and with two, its wheels.  And with the twelfth arrow he cut off Kripa’s flagstaff.  And with the thirteenth Phalguna, who was like Indra himself as if smiling in derision, pierced Kripa in the breast.  Then with his bow cut off, his car broken, his steeds slain, his car-driver killed, Kripa leapt down and taking up a mace quickly hurled it at Arjuna.  But that heavy and polished mace hurled by Kripa was sent back along its course, struck by means of Arjuna’s arrows.  And then the warriors (of Kripa’s division), desirous of rescuing the wrathful son of Saradwat encountered Partha from all sides and covered him with their arrows.  Then the son of Virata, turning the steed to the left began to perform circuitous evolution called Yamaka and thus withstood all those warriors.  And those illustrious bulls among men, taking Kripa with them who had been deprived of his car, led him away from the vicinity of Dhananjaya, the son of Kunti.”

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The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 4 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.